U.S. Pat. No. 4,742,646 to Kehrli discloses a multi-frame weather seal adapted to be affixed to a door frame surrounding a door. The frame seal of the '646 patent has its base affixed upon the rabbett on both sides of the door, namely, the hinge side and the lock side. This arrangement results in hinge bind problems which make it difficult to close a door adjacent which the Kehrli multi-finger seal is affixed. Accordingly, there exists a need in the art for an improvement which substantially eliminates the hinge bind problems associated with the Kehrli multi-finger seal.
A current problem in the marketplace exists in that hotel rooms, dormitories, and the like may be broken into by burglars accessing the door's locking mechanism by way of going "under the door". Accordingly, there exists a need in the art for a security seal to be positioned underneath doors which would reduce the likelihood of burglars being able to break into these type rooms.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,528,775 discloses a seal affixed to the bottom or underside of a door for the purpose of shutting off draft, dampening noise, and sealing dust and the like. The door bottom seal of the '775 patent is not a security seal, as evident by its design which includes a resilient lath affixed directly to the bottom of the door, the lath being actuated, for example, by a leaf spring. At a certain position during closing of the door, an end of the leaf spring projecting laterally outward from the door toward the jamb is forced inward thereby causing the middle portion of the spring to flex downward. Downward flexing of the leaf spring forces the head of the lath toward the floor in certain areas.
In view of the above, it is apparent that there exists a need in the art for both an improved security seal for affixation at or below a door and an improved multi-finger door frame seal for affixation in a door frame surrounding the door, the overall door sealing system for improving performance with respect to fire codes, heating/ventilating codes, and industry self-policing codes (e.g. ASTM, NFPA, and/or ANSI codes). Also, such smoke seals should function to prevent fire-fueling oxygen from entering such rooms.